2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

It already looks like this years Finger Lakes Regional is going to be great.

Team 772 is excited to be attending for the 4th time. Previous years we attended have been 2005 (Finalists by a penalty :( ), 2007 (Semi-Finalists), and 2009 (Did not make Elims)

Current Teams Registered:

145
174
176
191
250
340
378
578
639
772 (Canadian)
1111
1126
1507
1518
1551
1559
2228
2809 (Canadian)
3015
3838
3951
4203
4505
4508

16 Spots left

I will try to keep this up to date. Sorry if I'm a little slow.

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

There's a lot of teams on this list I'm really excited to see! Not just the local teams, whom I love, but those coming to us from afar!

Since FLR is no longer sharing a weekend with Canadian events, I'm excited that we'll have a stronger Canadian presence than last year. 772 and 2809 are this dream come true! It's great to have 772 back at FLR, after an awesome 2012 season. But I'm really excited for 2809 to make their first appearance in Rochester. Not only are they a great Canadian team, but a close friend of mine and 1126 alumni is going to Queen's University right now and I'm trying to convince him to mentor them. So it'd been awesome to see him again! It's great to see the Canadians coming back this year!

Second, is 176! Aces High is an awesome team, and I've loved their robots the past few years! I'm extremely excited to have them joining us this year!

On a different note, I'm sad to see 229, Division by Zero, and their younger counterpart, 4124, Integration by Parts, will not be joining us this year. 229 has always brought an awesome presence to Finger Lakes, both on and off the field, and 4124, in their rookie debut last year, lived up to their counterpart's legacy. The Clarkson Teams will be sorely missed, especially considering we won't be having some of their members join us. Ms. Libby Kamen is always a pleasure to have with us in Rochester, so absolutely, I'll be missing her presence. In addition, I have 3 friends up at Clarkson University right now who are looking to join the team (A 1507, 1126 and 1405 alumni), and it would have been awesome to see then at the regional. Oh well. 229 and 4124 will be missed, and we hope to have them back in the future!

I can't wait to see the rest of the teams sign up!

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

Although I'm excited to make the journey to Manchester with 229 and 4124, I'll sure miss all of the FLR regulars. This will be the first time I won't be at FLR since Aim High, which is a shame. However, It's reassuring that I'll see a lot of the FLR crowd at Ruckus.

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

Man, I haven't seen 176 in ages! So awesome to have another of the "UTC block" come to visit FLR (173 did before). Welcome to Rochester, Aces High!

but YESSS welcome back 772!! Glad you can make it, can't wait to work along side such an amazing team.

I'm also glad to see the usual teams show up, like our friends 639, 340, 578, 1126, 1551, 1507 and just about everyone else. It's not a real FLR without these great teams.

...uh...191? You there? 3173...you around? I see there are a lot of other teams in the area that haven't signed up yet.

174 is super pumped to go to FLR. After last year's amazing showing, we are ready to go for another great event. Each student and mentor can't wait to work with you all once more and meet new friends. I'll either be volunteering or mentoring 174, I haven't made up my mind yet officially.

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

I am happy to be back! I have only come to FLR 2009, and it was definitely one of my favourite competitions. I remember watching the webcast in 2007 with my two brothers on the team, and them going into the Semi-Finals with 3 Defensive robots... what luck! 2005 was my oldest brothers first competition, in which 772 were finalists (because of this), I distinctly remember walking down stairs and seeing his medal on the counter and saw "FIRST", thought they got first place...what a noob I was back then ;)

We have just selected our 2013 season team today, and it looks like we will have a very great and competitive team :D Can't wait to see everyone out there on the field and in the pits :)

153 days till FLR!

EDIT:
Expect some more great teams from Canada to come out! I have heard of a couple, but I won't say because I don't want everyone to get their hopes up ;)

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

Registered Teams

12 Spots Left

73
145
174
176
191
250
340
378
578
639
772 (Canadian)
1111
1126
1405
1507
1518
1551
1559
2228
2340
2809 (Canadian)
3003
3015
3838
3951
4203
4505 (Rookie)
4508 (Rookie)

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

FLR looks like it's going to be a dogfight this year.

Looking Forward to it.

-Nick

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

Will 610 be making it to FLR this year Nick?

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

FLR is going to be very competitive this year. Im looking forward to it

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

Haven't updated in a while.

3 Spots left. Last year 47 teams attended (according to The Blue Alliance). So probably 10 or so spots are still open.

73
145
174
176
191
250
340
378
451
578
639
772 (Canadian)
888
1111
1126
1405
1450
1507
1518
1551
1559
1591
1705
2228
2340
2809 (Canadian)
3003
3015
3181
3687
3838
3951
4023
4093
4203
4505 (Rookie)
4508 (Rookie)

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

Just got the news that we grabbed the last spot before the wait list. Very good news :D This will be our first time attending.

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

Last spot shave filled up.

At least for now there are no spots left. 7 spots left if looking at last years amount of teams.
Bold teams are the newly registered.

73
145
174
176
191
250
340
378
451
578
639
772 (Canadian)
888
907 (Canadian)
1111
1126
1405
1450
1507
1518
1551
1559
1591
1765
2228
2340
2809 (Canadian)
3003
3015
3181
3687
3838
3933 (Mexican)
3951
4023
4071
4093
4203
4505 (Rookie)
4508 (Rookie)

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

Looks like an awesome line-up! It will definitely be a great year with a lot of great teams (well, there are usually great teams, but FLR seems to be attracting some more diversity!)!

P.S. Aaron, had you not made the last post with the latest team list, you would have had 772 posts. Had you posted the same post two minutes later, it would have been at 11:26. Just sayin.

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

I hope no other teams have their sights set on the the spirit award. This team is as loud and fun as they get.

Actually, a spirit duel would be actually cool to watch. I challenge a team to beat them :D

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

I don't know, we have some quite spirited teams at FLR...


Also, wanted to welcome 888 to Fingerlakes. You guys were on our alliance in DC, it will be great to see you again.

2005 was the last year we won an event, that picture brings back stories I've been told by the older members of the team. Here's to a repeat.

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

Nah I think this time we should win ;) last year was our last/Only regional win, but I'm kind of glad we lost in 2005 because it gave me the oppurtunity to become the first of my family to win a regional :D

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

To settle your debate as to who will win, why not team up with 174 and both 772 and 639 can win this year? haha.


At first I thought Mexican meant from Mexico NY.

Talk about an interesting FLR. Tons of old favorites, a couple of returning faces, and a lot of new competitors. I dare say that this year is going to be a wild one. It's anyone's game.

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

First there will be Fingerlakes on Week 1, then there will be the FIRST annual Fingerlakes Rematch on Week 5 in Cleaveland once we all know the intricacies of the game.

1126, 2340, 1450, 1551, 1507, 639, 2228, 340, 3003, 201 will all be there.

Now the question: To reuse scouting data to improve sample size or assume considerable robot improvements will be made and throw out old data.

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

I don't like to be nit picky, but out of curiosity, why did you throw 201 into this list?

As far as scouting data goes, for the most part, much of it can be reused. If you want to adjust for potential improvements, that will require deeper analysis. You need to look at the quality of the team as a whole; are they the kind of team that historically will put in the effort to improve? Do they have the resources to make considerable rennovations? And if not, are they changes that can be made to the robot that can make it more competitive? Some robots just can't be saved sometimes. It's not a cut-and-dry system. It takes research and a careful eye for details. And sometimes, even that can be wrong.

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

Ahahaha, you and Garrick pick up on exactly the same things. I was going through the list of teams on the Regional and Qualifying events and just copied all that were from Rochester. Of course, 201 is from Rochester MI. I originally made this post on Facebook and Garrick noticed this as well, but before he did, I had copied that list over here.

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

That's what I figured :) I just wasn't sure if you were mistaken or listing teams with something in common and I was missing it.

P.S. Garrick and I are actually the same person. I just have two accounts so I don't seem like a know it all.

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

The account thing isnt true....we are however, almost the same person. Except you are much taller.

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

+ Team 3157

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

There are 49 teams currently registered for Finger Lakes. I expect a 50th team to appear sometime soon....

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

It's a little bit of a shame that I'm already committed to another event for this weekend, I like hanging out with the Rochester FIRST people.

Hope it's a good one though!

-Nick

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

are you suggesting 48? :p

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

Very nice -- a full, packed full regional with a great mix of teams. I can't wait for kickoff!

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

I believe your missing FRC 1511, or The Blue Alliance is wrong, which could happen (and happens a bit to frequently).

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

For any interested, here is the official current roster of the 2013 Finger Lakes Regional (as per the FIRST Event Page). Always a better source for these things than The Blue Alliance.

• 73
• 145
• 156
• 174
• 176
• 191
• 250
• 340
• 378
• 451
• 578
• 639
• 772
• 888
• 907
• 1111
• 1126
• 1155
• 1405
• 1450
• 1507
• 1511
• 1518
• 1551
• 1559
• 1585
• 1591
• 1765
• 2228
• 2265
• 2340
• 2809
• 3003
• 3015
• 3157
• 3173
• 3181
• 3687
• 3799
• 3838
• 3842
• 3933
• 3951
• 4023
• 4071
• 4093
• 4203
• 4505
• 4508

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

This isn't the current list any more. But the FIRST Event Page link below is still accurate. :cool:

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

Secret's out of the bag ;)

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

Travis. You have just made my day.
So pumped for Finger Lakes now!

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

This competition is going to be one of my favourite this year, if not one of my favourites ever. But you have some tough competitions to become my favourite ;) AND YES IT'S FAVOURITE!

But with all these great teams the competition will be great!

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

I'm glad you are excited, but I think you may have misspelled favorite.

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

NOPE! I am Canadian and I spell it the original and correct way!

http://www.urbandictionary.com/defin...term=Favourite

Look at the third one

(I do realize you are most likely just joking)

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

With 48 being added to the lineup, this is going to be a steller regional, if you ignore the fact that it is week 1.

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

I've always liked week one regionals, as long as there aren't field issues.

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

FLR is definitely going to be one of the strongest regionals this year. Expect all the perennial greats to be good once again, and don't forget 3173 on the list of champion contenders. Not to toot our own horn, but we do pretty well for not having a shop ;)

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

Don't jinx us Pat!

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

I don't believe in jinxes, hexes, or anything of the like. I let Ragsy (my black cat) walk across my path, have broken my fair share of mirrors, and used to live on the 13th floor...

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

Don't forget that lunch orders are due tomorrow for anyone wanting to order lunch.

http://www.rit.edu/gcr/firstrobotics/food-order.php

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

Good time for a bump...

16 days till FLR? Where did the time go! :ahh:

See you all on the field :cool:

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!! PARTY!!!!

This is so exciting :D

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

Will any team be posting the live webcast of Finger Lakes this year?

Thanks,

-Bernie

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

I got this from the firstrochester.org website:

http://firstrochester.org/Webcast/FRC/index.html

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

Thanks.

-Bernie

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

We have reached Defcon 3 for Fingerlakes Regional.

I love the community that the 'regulars' have at Fingerlakes, there are always familiar friendly faces, cheers and traditions.

Does anyone know who the MC will be this year? As for announcers, I sure hope we still have the absolutely stellar Jon Darr. In the last three years and 5 different events I've attended including Championship divisions, there has yet to be a better announcer than the godlike Jon Darr.

As for being a first week event, especially one on the East Coast, I always love the feeling of being the very first to play the game and discover its strategy as it really is. Good luck all and I can't wait for another fantastic FLR.

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

Angry Eric and Dylan.

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

Um, Dave Verbugge?

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

I like Dave. I'll still take JonDarr.
And besides I know Dave more as an MC.
The Announcer in Michigan is Tom Nader who is unstoppable and versitile (he also is in charge of transporting the field for FiM and is excellent at Team Que).

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

Likewise. JonDarr is epic in an epically epic way.

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

The regional will be locally broadcast live on Time Warner cable channel 4. I'm gonna try to digitally record both Friday and Saturday.
Anybody want to take the time and effort to edit the raw footage for The Blue Alliance?

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

I'll never forget how he made a call last year at buckeye that let a ref know he incorrectly called a foul. The ref had been making the same call wrong all day. When the ref looked at him he repeated the rule and the ref never made the call wrong again.

I wil enjoy the "homegrown" talents of Eric and Dylan. That is no slight against them, we are lucky to have such a pool of talented game announcers. At least I know we won't be called Churchville-ChilE High School but I will miss "Team GRRRRRRRRR."

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

Wait, will Dylan be replacing Jon Darr as announcer or will he be co-emceeing with Eric?

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

I hope they are Co-emceeing, I would be shocked and saddened if there was no JonDarr this year....

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

I don't know what JonDarr's plans are, but from what Dylan has told me, he will be co-emceeing with Eric this year, similar to what he did with Mark at last year's Finger Lakes.

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

Oh nooo, no JonDarr? Who will announce how long it takes for teams to hang?

;-)

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

No Offence, but there is no better MC then Karthik.

Proof: GTR West 2012

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

Can someone explain to me why Karthik and JonDarr don't MC/Announce Einstein together?

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

I would bet it's partially because Karthik has other Einstein plans in mind :D

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

Just to clarify, it will be JohnDarr as game announcer, Angry Eric as MC, and I will be bouncing in every once in a while to MC with the hope of taking on a larger role in the future. It is always a pleasure to work with JohnDarr and Eric both are so much fun to work with and it is always great to learn from both of them!

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

Karthik's research and depth of background knowledge on teams in the finals is absolutely unparalleled. Anyone who can pull off a 4 minute intro completely out of his head is to be envied :cool:

To clear up any confusion, yes JonDarr will be returning this year as our Game Announcer. If you ever have the opportunity to hear him speak outside of his "announcer voice", you probably wouldn't recognize him at all :) Although the longstanding names like Verbrugge and Blair have a great deal of FIRST experience and recognition, JonDarr hands down has the most pleasant voice, intonation, and "sportscaster-like" presentation of any of the GA's I've heard. If you haven't heard him before, I promise you'll agree by the end of Saturday!

Dylan and I will be MC'ing together this year at FLR, with a slightly more even distribution of the job ;)

Teams, bring your excitement for week 1 and lets get the RIT Field House rocking! Remember, the Spirit Award is now a Friday award so start LOUD and get LOUDER.

See you tomorrow!

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

Wow, this is great news, sorry if I caused any confusion, I guess it was just me that was confused at first.

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

Liz Smith your FTA brought some AndyMark folks with her to the event. They're going to be documenting their journey. Here is the first video of their trek to Rochester. If you see any of us, Liz, Charles, or Brett please do not hesitate to say hello.

http://youtu.be/17KAFKSXMhU

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

I'm struggling with the safety policies on the practice field. The relative safety hazard of two robots climbing the tower (which is allowed) seems higher than two robots agreeing to share the two goals (which isn't allowed) to me.
Hopefully someone can allow me to see the other side, without abusing the ::safety:: & ::ouch:: icons.

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

It is a major pain. There was a corner climber and a side climber right beside each other, with a shooter practicing intake. I'm confused.

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

Why not just tape the goal dimensions on a wall somewhere and practice using that?

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

:yikes: :yikes: :yikes: :yikes: :yikes:
ALL TEAMS AT FLR:

Eric & JonDarr are looking to get some more information on you guys, and we've put together a form with a few fun quick questions!!
(We will also try and have some people collecting this info at the event)

Please try to only have ONE ENTRY Per Team!!
(only the first entry will show up in the automated spreadsheet)

See you all tomorrow!!!

We tried to fire into the bunched up netting in the corner but the safety advisor asked us to stop for un specified safety reasons.

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

We made some changes an moved things around so more teams could shoot and hang at the same time. Safety was / is the biggest issue with the practice field. We looked at a few possible solutions and adding some space seems like the only answer. It does have an impact on the teams that are trying to ram hang new is the tower is not on carpet anymore.

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

I had the pleasure of watching the Finger Lakes Regional Livestream A LOT today. I may or may not have purposefully planned a work day in the math classes I teach so I could have the live stream playing on the SmartBoard...

Anyway, it was FANTASTIC! I am incredibly jealous of all the teams competing. All of the robot designs were awesome and watching real, live competition was great! Thank you so much to the team(s) in charge (unsure of who it was). The video production, music, news reports, and commentary were top notch.

So again, thank you to the people in charge of making that happen.

Good luck to all of the teams tomorrow!!!

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

It is perfect now. Thursday was a mess before the sign up sheet became enfornced. The pyramid moved back + this makes me not fear the practice field anymore.

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

Not going to dispute the envy part, but I think either Dave Verbugge (MSC/Einstein) or Paul Copioli (IRI) could be up to the task! :)

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

what a long day... Well to start 772 had problems with electrical shorting out our Crio. We have ALL of these problems fixed and you can see this by looking at our last match, where we had a pretty decent match.

Hope we have a better day tomorrow and get picked by some pretty good teams!

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

I diagnosed your radio power issue...after running into your robot and turning your radio off. :D

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

Just saw a record number of technical fouls at FLR.....

5 tech fouls..103 points

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

Whomever is running the telecast needs to learn the basics of broadcasting. I couldn't catch the reason for the DQ because of a pit interview. What happened?

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

I know that kinda sucked.

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

I know there was a red card for climb interference. Can someone who expand on this at all for those of us who were watching the webcast?

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

for the love of jaguars ZOOM OUT!!!!:ahh:

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

On the red card in QF4-1, a newly-installed defensive net on 578 got caught on a protruding part of 1559's climbing robot. The 578 driver wasn't used to driving with a tall robot yet, and it cost the alliance the match.

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

:eek: Wow. Nice job, 3173.

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

Wow. What an awesome batch of elimination rounds! All of the matches were so close, and that nail biter match where 1507's alliance beat us by 1 point was probably the craziest of the night.

Big thanks to 3003 and 1405 for picking us to play alongside them. Despite 145, 1126, and 48 putting up a great fight, we were able to bring the blue banner home with you guys!

Additionally, kudos to teams 340 (Stellar climber/dumper), 1126 (Well executed defense), and 3173 (ridiculous full court shooting)... you guys were each a blast to watch in your own regards.

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

So, this is now the second time 1559 has beaten us by a small margin. Keep up the great work guys, you guys keep getting better and better. Fantastic 30 point climb. Congratulations (to 1405 and 3003 as well!!). They were three awesome matches.

48 and 145, you guys were phenomenal. Thanks for inviting us to your alliance, we had an absolute blast.

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

what was overlooked in that last match was the climbing defense 48 put in, that play was awesome, any team that can duplicate it can defend against those third level climbers. I think any short bot that can pull off the same move will be important to this years game

It was too bad we fell short, but 1507 will do just fine in their next regional. It was great to be with a power house team in eliminations for once and I'm proud of what we did. 578 is attending the championship no matter what, if we compete with our robot or not only the wait list will determine at this point as we don't have a second regional this year. It's been a great 4 years and there is still plenty of matches left. I'll be cheering for all of our outstanding finger lakes teams at other regionals and the championship.

It's all summed up from a parent on our team who was new to first, "This is more exciting than the Superbowl."

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

That was the most exciting set of elimination rounds I've ever watched, hands down.

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

THIS.


By the time we hit semis, we had still had 4 alliances that all could have legit won the event.


In a tough year, and a week 1 event, we had the deepest field and some of the most fingernail devouring matches at FLR EVER.


A big thanks to all the teams who made this event the one to watch on webcast, and one to compare all the upcoming weeks against!

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

Are the matches archived somewhere (or on youtube?)

FLR was the greatest possible way to start off the year. Matches you'd expect to see in week 6 took place in week 1, and the elimination rounds kept my team constantly cheering at the shop.

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

Ooookay. As a mentor of a local team who is able to get back to a computer quickly (like Sean and Garrick), I'll through my hat into the annual congratulation fest that follows every Finger Lakes Regional. You can read through them all or just look for a particular one:

1507/2809/578: Playing you guys in the Quarter finals was terrifying. 1507, off of two regional wins the prior year, is probably the scariest FLR team right now, field-wise. 2809, despite early issues, had grown into one of the main scoring machines and they had a winning drive train from Day 1. 578... We were sure 578 messed us up BAD. Their defense tore a bumper off our robot and completely wrecked 3003's drive system, forcing us to use our time out (something I HATE to do in the QFs) and almost call a back up. You guys were insane. I was terrified it was almost over in the QFs, before it even begun.

3173/250/378: Cam and I from 3173 are friends. So when we came head to head in the SFs, we shook hands and fist bumped and wished each other luck. But when I got back to the driver station, I was a nervous wreck, because I knew 3173 was going to be an absolute mountain to climb. In the first SF match, they scored about 25 discs. That's 75 points. FROM THE FEEDER STATION. CROSS COURT. OVER THE FIELD. INTO THE TOP GOAL. Tell me that wouldn't scare you. They wrecked us. Everyone told me that was a contender for match of the year. 103-102, favor them. It was insane. 250 and 378 weren't sitting on their hands either. 250 brushed off some cobwebs and was shooting long range as well, and was the perfect complement to 3173. 378 plays some hard defense that shut us down for a while. It was crazy. So proud of 3173, though. They're a young team I (as a student from 1126) helped out years ago. And look at them now. Fantastic. Just fantastic.

48/145: These matches. 48 is a legend in the FRC community. It seems everywhere they go, they always have a performance in the finals. This time was no different. For a robot that mainly shot for the 2pt goal, 48 was a force to be reckoned with. I never want to be on the opposite side of the field of 48. Because they honestly scare the crap out of me. But one of their drive team members dances a mean Harlem Shake. 145 was one of the top scoring robots at FLR. They were a sharp shooter and hit their shots like it was their job. It was scary when, in the second Finals match, they did exactly what I knew they would do. They all put down a new strategy and almost shook us out. We came out by one point. I was legitimately shaking, it was so close.

1126: My old team. The team I grew up on, was raised by. And I had to team with them in Q73, and then I had to look at them across the field in the finals. It was an emotional roller coaster. But it's how I wanted it to come down the whole time. I love 1126 to death and I knew that no matter how the match ended, we would all hug it out and congratulate each other. It just happened that my alliance did. By a very small margin: 1 point in the last match. I'm pretty sure I shook hands and/or hugged everyone in a SparX shirt today. It was an honor to face them, and to play them in such amazing matches.

3003: Our first pick. Did not disappoint at all. Tan[X] had a rough start, with some drive issues, but over came them and were ready to resume an offensive role quickly. They have a great drive team, and Steve Schlegel (another 1126 alumni) is a brilliant strategist. It was an honor to work with them and help them get their first ever regional win!

1559: I'm no stranger to Devil Tech. I faced off with them in 2011 as a member of 1126's drive team at Buckeye. This time, I got to work with them. We picked them for their offensive threat. And then they showed us their 30 point hanger. We just let them do their thing and they did not fail (until 48 did what I would call the gutsiest move ever, drove under our tower, and pushed them out). Their 30 point contribution plus their consistent autonomous saved our bacon many times. I thank them for being a great partner and team mate.

Thanks to everyone who made this an amazing regional. It was a blast. Being part of the winning alliance was like a dream, and having Karthik do the intros (and call me out) was phenomenal.

It was nice to meet some FRC people who I've only known over the internet. Gregor of 907 and Aaron of 77WHO? were awesome to meet in person for realsies.

See you all next year! I'm off to party with 1126 :)

P.S. If you read this, Karthik. You owe me something! We won the event, now keep up your half of the bargain!! :D

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

Had a great time working FLR this year, well the past several years. It was great seeing teams win that were not the 'normal' teams! Way to go! Great matches this afternoon, that one point win, when both teams were in the hundreds was amazing.

Looking forward to next year already

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

A huge congratulations to team 2809 for their first ever Chairman's Award! Having seen what you guys have done over the past five years, it seemed like a no-brainer. Having knocked on the door with a couple EI wins, it was great to see you guys finally get through it. 3710 was holding a fundraiser dinner and as soon as we heard that you guys won the entire room erupted into cheers. We wouldn't be half the team we are without you guys (actually, we might not exist at all!)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure that 2809 is only the second Canadian team to win Regional Chairman's at an American regional (1547 won Granite State in 2010, I think). What an accomplishment. Kudos to you guys!

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

I'm going to start off by thanking all of the Volunteers to making this event happen. Without you none of us would be able to experience this wonderful event,and for that we are all thankful. A special thanks for the MC Angry Eric, who was entertaining and fun, being the face of the regional.

Teams 1507 & 578 - It was great being on an alliance with you. We worked great together and almost came up with a way to beat the eventual tournament champions. It was our pleasure and hopefully we will have a chance to do it again.

Teams 3003, 1405 & 1559 - All I can say is WOW! You guys impressed me immensely. 1559, that triple hang came out of nowhere, and made a huge difference, and consistent scoring and defense when needed from 1405 and 3003 when needed. You went up against some great competition and came out on top as the 3rd seed. That is something to be very proud of. Congrats on to the whole alliance for getting that blue banner, especially 3003 on that first blue banner. Hopefully there will be many more in the future.

All Elimination Teams- You made for one of the most exciting semi-finals, that I have ever seen. You should all be really proud of your robots, and know that they could all have won this regional if a few more disks had gone the other way.

Finally to my team 2809 - These past 4 years as a mentor have been a journey. The adversity we have overcome is incredible. Without our teachers this year, we managed to knuckle up, and still build a successful robot and keep doing everything we do well. I want to extend a HUGE thanks to all our kids for putting in the extra work that was required of them. Finally after 2 years of winning Engineering Inspiration, we finally made it through the barrier to win our first Chairman's Award. Everyone on 2809, hold your heads high and know you have accomplished something special, lets keep this spirit up going to GTR east this coming weekend.

For anyone who wants to see our Chairman's video

Thanks again for a great regional, and best of luck in your other competitions this year.

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

What. A. Weekend.

I called it before: this was going to be THE most exciting Finger Lakes Regional ever, and was I right. But it wasn't just the best in terms of action on the field, but we had by far the best staff and volunteer crew ever assembled. I have a ton of people to thank and a bunch of congrats to offer:

Firstly, to my awesome FTAs, Liz and Mark and the other field crew Eric, Jeremy, and Tim. Thank you all so much for helping me with my first year as Scorekeeper/Field Power. I don't think I could have been anywhere as successful without Mark at the helm of the goal sensors and Liz taking care of the robots. A giant thanks to Chris and Brett, and all of my other score counters - you were an exceptional team and I offer my deepest gratitude for helping us ensure that the counts were accurate. Also, big thanks to Dante for being the best Head Ref in all of FIRST, JohnDar for being the only Announcer I ever want to hear, and to Angry Eric, Big D Dylan and Karthik for making this a well hyped event.

Next, I have a special message to those teams involved in Semifinal 1-2. To teams 3173, 250, 378, and 1405, 3003, 1559: I had an absolute mental breakdown trying to sort out the score, and I loved it. Thank you for being such great competitors and giving this regional a match to remember.

Then, the teams themselves:

While we had a lot of bumps and problems, congrats to 174 on not giving up at all. You really are one of the best teams to mentor and watching us go from a no-show to active and scoring, I am very proud of you. Head to buckeye with that same passion. As long as there is a match to play, play that match to win!

To Team 3173, for letting me hang around at their friday night meeting and eat their food. You are a very inspiring team and were one of my personal favorites this year (even though your full court shooter made it a pain for us to verify scores. :D) I wish you even more success at Boston.

To the winners 1405, 3003, and 1559: You three have been great teams over the years at FLR, and I am very glad to see each of you take home a medal for the first time. You all had impressive robots and played every match of eliminations to the fullest. Your alliance had it all: A perfect 30 point climber, a defensive juggernaut that could score like crazy, and an accurate and fast shooter. You had the perfect formula to win and you deserve this victory.

To team 2809, congrats on your Regional Chairman's award and to 1111 on your EI award.

This also gets me to thank all of the teams coming in from out of state: Usually FLR is a very predictable regional, with all of us set on winning the same awards we have won many years in a row. But you road teams have shown us that in order to be the best we have a lot of work to do. Thanks for being gracious competitors and we hope to see you next year when FLR is a week 4 or 5 event.

And lastly, thanks to Charles and Brett from AndyMark for turning me into what they call an internet celebrity. I have no idea if that is true, but it was great meeting you both and I look forward to seeing you again somewhere. I'm happy to have made your TraVlogs entertaining, if you are still reading this and haven't checked out their TraVlog, you should do that now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17KAFKSXMhU

To all of those I haven't mentioned, I thank you as well. This was an epic event and will be difficult to top next year. Good luck to all teams at their next event and we will see you all next year.

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

Just wanted to extend a huge "thank you" to teams 48 and 1126. It was an awesome alliance and an epic elimination round for us on 145.

Thanks to 48 for seeing beyond the wins and losses, and taking a chance on us! To 48's coach, you were the Zen-master!!! Calm, cool and collected while working with us on strategy. Great machine, great driving, great team!!!

To 1126 for implementing 48's "Horseshoe from Hell" defense. We knocked off a lot of the teams that have dominated FLR in the past. You guys are awesome!

A huge thanks to all of the volunteers! Kate in the pit, Koko Ed in the cue, Taylor(Tonya) the flag girl, Dante, Kathy and all of the refs, the inspection crew, the judges, and especially Angry Eric. You all made this event very special for us.

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

I want to extend my thanks to the organizers and volunteers of the Fingerlakes Regional. I've been to six different locations in my time in FIRST and can say with confidence, FLR is the best of all of them. The venue is just the right size for watching closeup but the stands never seem empty nor cramped. The pits are an easy walk and scouts always have a good view, not to mention that there is free internet in the pits and stands provided by RIT. The planning committee deserves intense kudos.

We managed to get our dream team this year with JonDarr and Karthik, and Angry Eric is quickly becoming one of my favorite MC's. The refs, led by Dante are amazingly vigilant and make fair calls. They are truly a gold standard. The inspectors (special shout out to the amazing LRI Rob) are fantastic: helpful, quick and competent. And let me not forget the field reset (first week regional running ahead of schedule!?) pit admin and all the other volunteers that made the event run so smoothly and constantly spoil our team when we go to any other events.

What makes FLR so great in my book is the comradeship of the teams and how deep the event is. We saw deep strategy in the elims that I don't think we'll see again until week 7. The gameplay wasn't just great for a week one, it was amazing period.

There are too many teams I want to shout out to so I'll keep it to a minimum, but I want to congratulate 3003 on their win this year. We had a great time on an alliance with you last year, we knew you would go far this one. Good luck in St. Louis! I also want to compliment 1126 on the defense they played, it really put us to shame. You guys were a real second round steal. I want to thank 1450 for their help with our robots numerous problems. Every time we asked for help with anything, someone from them would poke their head into our pit (they were diagonally across from us) and help us.

Congratulations to 1111 for your EI, we know how exciting it is to win that unexpectedly. It was great having you guys at the regional, sitting next to you and made a lot of new friends on our team.

Finally, I think 2809 deserves incredible respect and congratulations for winning Chairmans. To win it over all the amazing teams at Fingerlakes that applied is really impressive. Congrats. Would you be able to post your essay as well as your video? I'd love to take a read.

Thanks to everyone who made this an exhilarating Fingerlakes Regional. I can't wait for a second chance at Buckeye!

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

Big thanks to you and Team 145 for being an excellent alliance partner, receptive to strategy and advice. You guys got stronger as we advanced through the elims - exactly what we needed - great job!

Team 48 had a hard-fought and satisfying weekend of competition at Finger Lakes. Bringing a rookie drive team (albeit one that won Rah Cha Cha Ruckus) and a mostly freshman/sophomore team of students to the event, I wasn't sure what to expect. I also knew the bot was packing a subset of features and capabilities we expect it to have at Queen City. I am very proud of my team for extracting significant output from our machine as currently configured. Our #4 alliance was one disc or 10 point hang away from a 3rd match in the finals, and I think we put on a great show for the crowd, so I'm very satisfied with our performance at Finger Lakes. We gained tons o' experience that will benefit us at Queen City, Crossroads, and hopefully beyond.

Big thanks to 1126 for being everything we'd thought they'd be when we selected them as a 2nd pick. Dylan and Alex stopped by our pit and alerted us to the improvements their team was making throughout Saturday. We observed them on the practice field and in their matches, and they looked focused, hungry, and ready to kick butt for anyone who selected them. They did not disappoint. It's always fun to have two defensive-minded teams on the same alliance. I am glad we were able to demonstrate that certain types of defense can be effective against a number of offensive strategies in Ultimate Ascent. :)

Congratulations to all teams at the competition for putting on a great show - especially the event winners and award winners. Congrats 1405, 3003, and 1559 on a hard fought victory.

I'm very happy for 1111 winning Engineering Inspiration - they stayed at our hotel and ate dinner with us Friday night. I found them to be great people, and the robotics program they've built is simply outstanding - well deserved.

Congrats to 2809 on your Regional Chairman's win! Considering the history of the award at this event, you certainly had to bring some outstanding qualities to the table to earn the award over the highly-regarded teams vying for Chairman's at Finger Lakes.

Thanks to all the staff and volunteers at Finger Lakes who made me not loathe attending a Week 1 regional, as I had previously done up until arriving on Thursday morning. Congrats on a very organized, well-run, and entertaining operation. Thanks also to Karthik and Mark Breadner for showing up and making the event feel just a little bit like old school GTR. :p

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

The 2013 Finger Lakes Regional was a fantastic event. When our small contingent from Team 1114 left St. Catharines early on Saturday morning, we had no idea we'd be walking into one of the most exciting events in recent memory. This very evenly matched field played at high level throughout the elimination rounds, making for some exhilarating matches.

Thanks to the entire Finger Lakes Regional Planning Committee and all the volunteers for your immense amounts of hospitality. Thanks for inviting down onto the field for the elimination rounds, and letting me be part of the show. Working with Eric and Jondarr was a real treat. It was great to be able to call some of the intense action.

A huge congratulations goes out to my good friends on Team 2809 on winning their first Regional Chairman's Award. This team has gone through a lot of adversity this season, and seeing them overcome it all and reach new heights is absolutely amazing.

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

Thanks for the great post! I was reliving the final matches reading your post - what a thrill. Thanks again for picking us!
Teammate 1559 Mechanical Mentor

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

Once again FLR was a success, Every team played hard and the robots were awsome! 3015 would like to thank all the teams that helped us along the way. Congrats to the winners 1405, 1559 and 3003. See everyone next year.

Re: 2013 Finger Lakes Regional
 

Does anybody have videos of us (145) in the elimination matches???

semi's, quarters, finals...doesn't matter.

Thanks